Tarja Halonen, the Finnish president

Tarja Halonen, the Finnish president, said Saturday she would consider issuing a political statement declaring post-second world war trials of Finland's wartime leaders as breaches of the rule of law.

The 1945-6 trials, which most Finns prefer to call "war responsibility trials" instead of the less palatable heading used by the allies, saw Risto Ryti, president in 1940-4, six wartime cabinet members and an ambassador jailed for waging war against the Soviet Union in 1941-4, a conflict known as the continuation war in Finland.

Speaking at an even marking 70 years since the end of the winter war, the president said she was of one mind with Matti Vanhanen (centre), the prime minister, in thinking that there was no need to restore the wartime leaders' honour because it was never lost in the eyes of the Finnish public in the first place.

"For me and for the rest of the Finnish public it is no surprise to be told that the trials were political," she said.

"That is the way the matter has always been viewed."

Mr Vanhanen said the country's justice system had not tended to correct matters retroactively.

"I believe that the families of those who were convicted concluded a long time ago that there is no need to restore honour," he added.

"The sentenced, together with the entire veteran generation, bore a heavy burden during Finland's hour of fate, and it is thanks to them that Finland remained independent and democratic."

STT
Lehtikuva - Martti Kainulainen